Would you trust a "cat sitter" in your house for a weekend?

purpleshoes_2

There is a register of professional cat sitters and dog walkers, there are also people who advertise on gumtree, some have their own businesses. It was something I intended doing myself, as I have cats and Id happily cat sit for other people, but before you choose someone, you would expect to see liability insurance, references as well.

purpleshoes_2

Also, some people will probably be very busy as its holiday time, Id start looking for someone asap if you arent going to get a friend to do it for you.

tea_lover

Do you know your neighbours?

jaylee3

I would rather have a random pet sitter who I don't know, than a friend or neighbour, who will probably nose through all my sh*t.

If you're worried about valuable things going 'missing,' then leave them with a close relative or something. I seriously doubt that a pet sitter would nick anything though.

codemonkey

martin2345uk wrote: »

Thanks guys.. I'm in south Manchester. I don't really know how to go about "vetting" someone like that - how would you go about ensuring they're insured/security checked?

You ask them to show you a recent CRB check (i think its called that; it's Disclosure Scotland here) and to see a copy of their insurance certificate thingy when you meet.

balletshoes

I was looking into cat sitters for my area very recently - the ones I found had their CRB certificates/insurances etc posted on their website, so you could see them before meeting them in person. I would certainly ask to see their certificates, I'm sure a professional sitter would bring them along anyway.

Revel

Check with your local vets. Sometimes the veterinary nurses do a bit of home visiting/pet sitting.

Mayflower10cat

Was just about to suggest asking at your Vets. We've used two different vet nurses as pet sitters (cat on various medications & insulin twice a day) the practice was less than a mile from our house and the nurse could walk to work. She was glad of the extra money, we left pizza and a bottle of wine for her first night and our cats actually slept on the guest bed with her....!

paddypaws101

I have used cat sitters many many times....both live in for longer trips and 'pop in to feed/clean' and never had a problem.
As others have said....ask in local vet surgeries and look online on Gumtree.
Have a good chat with any prospectives and I am sure you will get a good idea of the kind of person they are.
Once you have found someone you trust it will make it SO much easier to plan future trips away.

catkins

If you go through an agency they should have checked all references, police checks etc. If you employ someone yourself they should show you all the relevant papers.


I used to have a dog walker that I found on Gumtree. She had police checks, references and she had done an animal course at the local uni. When she came round to see me and my dog she brought all paperwork with her. It never bothered me that she had a key, after all if anything had gone missing it would have been obvious it was her. I did wonder sometimes if she ever nosed around the house but I don't have anything to hide and as she was pretty young (about 24) I am sure she was not the slightest bit interested in any of my stuff! I was once there when she came to walk my dog although she didn't know that. Struck by a bad migraine I could not get out of bed and had actually forgotten it was one of her days. I heard her come in talk to my dog, take him out and then an hour later bring him back. She wasn't in the house any time at all. I felt guilty being there but it's not like I was spying on her and she could not have known I was there. Just as well she didn't go round the house nosing though!